Part of the money to be spent repairing plumbing in county facilitiesBy Brooke ChambersReporter

DANVILLE - With an extra $143,000 in Yell County's coffers this year, the quorum court recently made some spending plans.

According to Yell County Judge Brad Wear, $43,000 of the one-time state turnback funds allocated for the county through Act 1093 of 2007 will go toward plumbing repairs in county buildings. The remaining $100,000 will be used for undecided projects in 2008.

The quorum court budget committee presented amendments to the 2007 budget during Monday night's full court meeting, which included $30,000 for plumbing upgrades at the county jail in Dardanelle and $13,000 for plumbing at several county facilities.

"We drastically need some work done at the jail; we've just been waiting to get the funding for it," Wear told The Courier after the meeting. "So we're going to go ahead and take care of that, then wait to see what our needs are for next year."

The 2008 budget process would likely begin next month, he said.

The quorum court sanitation committee requested Wear look into purchasing a truck to possibly be used for hauling compacted county trash to the landfill.

"I'm just looking into it right now," he said, not clarifying what funds would be used, if any.

Currently, he said, Yell County contracts with Waste Management to pick up large boxes of trash from the county's three compactor sites. Should the county have its own "roll-off" truck, the county could save the contracting fee and haul the trash in-house, he said.

The sanitation committee was also given the task during last month's meeting to look for a solution to the recent administrative decision at Ozark Ridge Landfill that burnt trash would not be accepted.

"We don't have an answer for that," Wear said. "They (the landfill) will no longer accept burnt trash from individuals or from us. We can't accept it at our compactor sites. We know that makes people upset, because they've burned their trash, then have nowhere to go with it."

Wear said the county offered no suggested to those who have burnt trash and need to discard it.

"I don't know that anybody takes it anymore," he said.

In other business, the quorum court adopted a resolution stating its opposition to the mandatory National Animal Identification System.

Jane Williams of southern Yell County spoke to the quorum court about the potential risks involved in the system.

Wear said he believed the proposed system "has a lot of unanswered questions about the cost to each individual farmer."

The resolution stated the now-voluntary NAIS would enable the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to trace and possibly combat animal disease, but its effectiveness would be questionable due to the enormous size and complexity of the program.

"(T)he cost of complying the NAIS will sure be beyond the economic benefit for most small animal operations and force them to cease owning animals, which will have a devastating effect for the economy, heritage and culture of not only small producers, but on rural communities and counties state-wide," the resolution stated.